Heat vs. Spurs gives ABC a huge rating night

San Antonio Spurs small forward Kawhi Leonard shoots against Miami Heat power forward Chris Andersen and LeBron James. The Heat won the NBA title by defeating the Spurs in seven games(Photo: USA TODAY Sports)

Story Highlights

Put together LeBron James, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Dwyane Wade and a Game 7 and you attract a lot of eyeballs.

Thursday night's final between the Spurs and the Heat drew a 17.7 overnight rating, the second best NBA rating ever for ABC. That included a 44.2 in Miami and 46.4 in San Antonio.

The top rating ever for ABC was Game 7 of the 2010 Celtic-Lakers playoffs. That game did an 18.2.

The game peaked at a 22.6 between 11:30 and 11:45 p.m. ET last night. The entire NBA Finals was up 5% from 2012 when the Heat defeated the Thunder.

Sure Game 7 of the Celtics/Lakers in 2010 did an 18.2. So we almost made it. Only 3 percent off and consider the markets. LA/Boston – two of the nation's top media markets and most storied NBA franchise compared to two mid-sized markets. Interesting…